Alexander Volkov has withdrawn from UFC Fight Night St. Petersburg according to Ariel Helwani of ESPN, replacing him against Alistair Overeem is going to be Aleksei Oleinik.
Overeem (44-17-0-1NC) has won just one of his last three under the UFC banner, with that lone win coming over Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Fight Night Beijing. Overeem has previously challenged for the UFC Heavyweight Title, losing to then champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 203. Overeem is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, defeating UFC veteran Paul Buentello to win the gold in November of 2007.
Oleinik (57-11-1) enters the contest while in the midst of a two fight winning streak, having defeated the duo of Junior Albini and Mark Hunt. Oleinik has suffered only a pair of defeats under the UFC banner, with those two losses coming to Daniel Omielanczuk and Curtis Blaydes. Oleinik was originally supposed to fight Walt Harris at UFC Fight Night Ottawa and now Harris will need a new opponent for that event.
UFC Fight Night St. Petersburg takes place on Saturday, April 20 from the Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg, Russia with Aleksei Oleinik and Alistair Overeem headlining. Fightful is going to be providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.
